Gaily Colored Monocycle on Sale

Hammacher Schlemmer is selling these gas-powered monocycles, capable of achieving shoe-melting speeds of up to 25MPH, for just $13,000. It's goofy enough to be beyond reproach and I'm not ashamed to say riding one looks like quite a bit of fun. And since they're not street legal, I don't think you have to worry about seeing too many people popping out to the store on these, a bag of groceries balanced gingerly on either side.

Catalog page [Hammacher.com via Crave.CNET.com]

[#1 posted by w000t , March 21, 2008 12:13 PM]

Cool - a monocycle and Felix Da Housecat.

[#2 posted by artbot , March 21, 2008 12:35 PM]

At least they finally stopped using my (nearly 10 year old) illustration on their website without my permission.

http://www.artbot.com/illustration/illustration.html

To be fair, they did offer to sell me one of these at wholesale cost, though shipping was something like $2000. I declined.

[#3 posted by chus3r , March 21, 2008 12:35 PM]

Look out! It's General Grievous.

[#4 posted by Anonymous , March 21, 2008 12:42 PM]

South Park has forever ruined any vehicle like this for me. (http://www.planearium2.de/pics/pics-511-5.jpg)

[#5 posted by semiotix , March 21, 2008 12:55 PM]

Dammit, I thought it said "gaily colored monocle." I've been waiting years for those to come back into style!

[#6 posted by oshaughnessy , March 21, 2008 1:09 PM]

The term you are looking for is Monowheel.

There's a guy who hand built one of these and rides it in Fourth of July parades. It looks wildly out of control and enticingly dangerous. He wears boots with roller-skate wheels on the bottom for stabilization.

He's pictured on the Monowheel wikipedia page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monowheel
There's a great page on Monowheels here too: http://www.impactlab.com/2006/11/27/history-of-the-worlds-craziest-invention-the-monowheel-with-amazing-pics/

[#7 posted by Enochrewt , March 21, 2008 2:13 PM]

Not street legal? Since when did that stop anyone? Here in Colorado nothing under 50cc has to be licensed. These are only 31cc, so they actually have more freedom to go where ever they want (including driving on the sidewalk). The price will probably be more of a restriction than anything.

During the pocketbike craze I got absolutely sick of dodging assholes ignoring stop signs and such in neighborhoods because they thought the law didn't apply to them. On the other hand this same licensing loophole lets people with Mopeds and scooters drive around cheaply and park on the sidewalks for free.

[#8 posted by technogeek , March 21, 2008 3:53 PM]

Looking at the profile: How long before someone uses that vehicle as the letter "G" in an ad?

(I wouldn't object to playing with one, but I really have no need to own one. No lasting interest in motor sports; give me sails and pedals.)

[#9 posted by Anonymous , March 21, 2008 9:16 PM]

I'm surprised it even goes 25mph. Unless I'm missing something, the only thing that keeps the entire thing from rolling over when you hit the brakes is the weight of the motor and the rider. You wouldn't be able to brake safely and quickly at the same time, making this a poor choice for street use.

[#10 posted by dargaud , March 22, 2008 5:51 AM]

Question: what happens when you brake too hard in one of those ? Answer: you start rolling head over ass with no hope of stopping unless by crashing into something. That's why you'll never see them 'street legal', unless you add external anti-roll wheels or a Segway-style internal stabilizer.

[#11 posted by heydemann3 , March 22, 2008 6:31 AM]

And there are no foot pegs. My thighs would be cramping up inno time.

[#12 posted by Anonymous , March 22, 2008 3:37 PM]

Made me laugh. Reminds me of the "IT" from South Park. Image below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:IT_%28South_Park%3B_The_Entity%29.jpeg

[#13 posted by Anonymous , March 23, 2008 7:34 PM]

A little fiberglass work (or cardboard) and, voila, PacMan!!!!!!